Out of Home Has Changed—It's Time for Marketers to Catch Up

While new technologies and greater reliance on analytics have driven significant advancements in measurement across the advertising landscape, out of home (OOH) has always faced a unique set of challenges related to performance measurement. Print, TV and even digital have consistent and standardized approaches to measurement with metrics that are often integrated into the technology used for their distribution. In OOH, however, there remains an infinite number of ways in which a consumer can potentially interact with an ad. The diverse set of variables influencing audience interaction with an OOH message, plus the fragmentation of inventory types and formats, only adds to the complexity of capturing and quantifying impact. Marketers experienced with OOH have always said they could “feel” the impact when included in media strategies. They know it works. They just haven’t been able to definitively prove it. Unfortunately, the inability to quantify impact has contributed to OOH owning some of the lowest CPMs in advertising while garnering just a 4% share of the overall media marketplace (lower than the global 7% OOH share). British Airways’ 500 Unique Billboards Win Outdoor Grand Prix at Cannes Times are rapidly changing. Whereas measurement in OOH used to primarily be about counting traffic to determine how many times a passerby might have had the opportunity to see a piece of OOH inventory, the industry now integrates a wide range of new observed data sources from mobile devices, smartphone applications and connected cars to provide marketers with enhanced forecasting capabilities, precise transactional metrics and the insights that are standard across other channels. Agencies and planners using OOH now have at their fingertips richer information and deeper insights related to audience behaviors and population movements, all of which are informing more precise targeting, planning and execution. OOH audience data can be used in attribution studies to determine not just if an audience was exposed to a message but what happened after the exposure occurred. As a result, brand marketers can have a clearer and more consistent view of OOH’s impact and influence when deployed as part of a broad omnichannel media campaign. Certainly, there is more work to do to overcome roadblocks to full OOH integration. The universe of digital screens and inventory types has grown exponentially. In addition to traditional billboards, still very much at the heart of OOH, the industry now includes a bevy of video, transit and place-based displays, the volume and diversity of which pose a challenge in aligning against a common and unified set of metrics. The industry is currently building a comprehensive catalog of assets to establish a consistent set of metrics across all OOH inventory to support its rapid growth. Then there is the current agency holding company structure and the place OOH resides within it. OOH should be a more integrated part of the strategy, included more prominently in investment level conversations at the holding companies. But too often, OOH is planned separately, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that it is hard to plan and buy. Challenges aside, today’s OOH is, in the grander scheme, a much more user-friendly channel for marketers and advertisers. Marketers need to overcome their preconceived notions about OOH to take full advantage of what the channel has to offer today. They can do so in the following ways. Accelerate integration With OOH planning tools now able to integrate into broader media planning platforms, it’s time to bring OOH into the fold, literally and figuratively. It is incumbent on marketers and the larger advertising conglomerates to break down walls and drive greater cohesion between OOH and neighboring strategic planning teams, firmly establishing OOH within the broader marketing toolbox. Evolve OOH thinking There will always be advertisers that want to buy a piece of OOH inventory specifically for its location. And that’s fine, as it’s still a strength and a key distinguisher of OOH in the crowded media landscape. But marketers that regard OOH solely as a location-based medium are missing the opportunity to leverage its full power to integrate into broader campaigns, amplify reach and maximize return on investments in complementary channels. A change of thinking is required. What Accounts for Performance Marketers’ Reluctant Embrace of Out-of-Home Advertising? Ask for the proof As mentioned, the OOH industry now has the tools, metrics and data to help marketers understand impact. It’s not just about circulation counts anymore. The industry understands that it's only going to grow its share of media by demonstrating value and effectiveness and has made the requisite investments to finally deliver the proof. Marketers can and should explicitly ask what outcomes are possible for their campaign.